Europe

Belarus
Last reviewed: 27 June 2008

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HISTORY

Recent History

Throughout the 'perestroika' period (1985-91), Belarus was under the control of old-style Communist Party authorities, who were nervous about the nationalist aspirations articulated by intellectuals. The devastation wrought in 1986 by the Chernobyl disaster, (70% of the radiation fell on Belarus, contaminating one third of its territory), alienated increasing numbers of Belarusians. In July 1990, the Belarusian Supreme Soviet (Parliament) adopted a wide-ranging Declaration of Sovereignty. Belarus declared independence in August 1991 following the failed coup in Moscow.

In December 1991 Belarus became a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In March 1994, the Communist-dominated Supreme Soviet adopted Belarus' first post-Soviet constitution. This switched the country from a parliamentary to a presidential form of government, under which the president is popularly elected.

Presidential elections were held in July 1994. The populist, non-party Alexander Lukashenko (a former collective farm manager) won 80% of the votes in the second round. Pitching his message to a politically inexperienced electorate disillusioned with the early experience of economic reform and concerned about declining living standards, Lukashenko called for a crackdown on crime and corruption, renewed economic relations with Russia and a halt to privatisation, including that of land.

Parliamentary elections were held in May 1995 for a unicameral parliament, the 260-member Supreme Soviet. Low turnout (with President Lukashenko himself subtly discouraging his countrymen from voting) and the complexity of the voting system left the legislature well short of the quorum of 174 members required by the constitution. The Soviet-era parliament elected in 1990, the Supreme Soviet (12th convocation), filled the vacuum until an electoral round was held in December 1995 which brought the total of members to 198 and finally achieved a quorum.

Relations between President Lukashenko and the Supreme Soviet were tense. Parliament resisted the president's efforts to strengthen his powers. It was supported by the Constitutional Court, which overruled a number of presidential decrees. Lukashenko's solution was to re-write the constitution, dissolve parliament and put his own appointees in the Constitutional Court.

In a heavily manipulated referendum held in November 1996, President Lukashenko won overwhelming endorsement for a radically rewritten constitution. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declared the conduct of the referendum to have been neither free nor fair. Despite a ruling by the Constitutional Court that the referendum was unconstitutional, Lukashenko declared the results to be binding.

The new constitution gave the president extensive powers relative to those of the judiciary and replaced the existing parliament with a bicameral National Assembly with much weaker powers. This consisted of a 110-seat Chamber of Representatives (lower house) and a 64-seat Council of the Republic (upper house). The 110 members of the lower house were appointed by Lukashenko, who selected obedient members of the outgoing parliament. The 64-member upper house was created by a combination of presidential appointments and the results of the January 1997 elections by Belarus' six regional councils and Minsk city council. The new constitution prolonged Lukashenko's term in office for a further two years to 2001.

Western governments refused to recognise the new parliament, which functioned as little more than a rubber-stamp. The Supreme Soviet (Thirteenth Convocation) was forcibly dissolved. Those deputies who were not invited to join the new Chamber of Representatives declared themselves still to be the rightful parliament. The Constitutional Court was also dissolved and was replaced by a new Court, which had no right to examine presidential decrees. Since 1996 Lukashenko has effectively ruled by decree.

Accusing Lukashenko of staying in power beyond his legitimate term, the opposition decided to hold its own presidential election in May 1999. There were two candidates: Zenon Paznyak and former Prime Minister Mikhail Chyhir. The latter was arrested in March 1999. Many believe the charge of grand larceny was politically inspired. He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, which prevented him from conducting an election campaign. The election was not a success and few believed the opposition's claims that over 50% of the electorate had taken part. When Lukashenko's term expired in July 1999, the opposition declared former parliamentary speaker Semyon Sharetsky the interim president.

Elections

In October 2000, parliamentary elections took place for the first time since the controversial referendum of 1996. The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) also concluded that these elections failed to meet international standards for free, fair and transparent elections.

The majority of opposition parties announced that they were boycotting the parliamentary elections. These included the Belarusian Popular Front, the United Civic Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Women's Party 'Nadzeya'. Declaring that the conduct of the elections did not comply with international standards, the OSCE, Council of Europe and European Union declined to send official observers. Instead the European Parliament and the OSCE and CoE Parliamentary Assemblies dispatched a 'limited technical assessment mission.'

Presidential elections took place in September 2001. Lukashenko declared victory against his two challengers, Sergei Gaydukevich, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and Vladimir Goncharyk, the united opposition candidate. Improbably, the Belarusian Central Election Commission announced that Lukashenko won 75% of the vote with Goncharyk securing 15%. However the ODIHR report concluded that the presidential election process failed to meet OSCE commitments for democratic elections. There were serious flaws including unequal access to the media for opposition candidates; biased media reporting in favour of Lukashenko; delay in inviting the OSCE Observation Mission and visa denials for two long-term observers. The Mission was downgraded to an International Limited Election Observation Mission.

Lukashenko was due to leave office in 2006. However, in another heavily manipulated referendum, which was held in parallel to the parliamentary elections of 17 October 2004, Lukashenko secured overwhelming support to amend the Constitution, removing the two term Presidential limit. The concurrent elections were judged not to meet international standards. Of the 110 seats contested, all were won by pro-government candidates. ODIHR, which deployed a full Election Observation Mission, concluded in its initial findings that the elections 'fell significantly short of OSCE standards for democratic elections'. It went on to say that universal principles and constitutionally guaranteed rights of expression, association and assembly were seriously challenged, and the dominant influence of the State administration was apparent throughout the organisation of the election processes.

The EU subsequently condemned the conduct of the election and questioned whether the results of both the election and referendum fully reflected the will of the Belarusian electorate. At the same time, the EU stressed that it was still willing to deepen its relationship with Belarus, but only once the Belarusian authorities clearly demonstrate their willingness to respect democratic values and the rule of law.

Belarus' Presidential election on 19 March 2006 was characterised by massive fraud and intimidation of the opposition. Lukashenko was declared the winner with 83% of the vote. The OSCE's election observation mission called the elections "severely flawed due to the arbitrary use of state power and restrictions on basic rights". The opposition has held a number of demonstrations since March. On the evening of 23 March the Belarusian authorities broke up the main opposition demonstration in central Minsk. Over that weekend, security forces used violence against the protestors and sealed off the city's main square to prevent subsequent rallies. The demonstrators moved instead to a nearby park, where Alexander Kozulin (a presidential candidate) was arrested after leading demonstrators on a march to the detention centre where those arrested after the election were being held. He was subsequently sentenced to five and a half years in a trial which was clearly politically motivated and unfair.

Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich was arrested on 27 April together with two other opposition leaders, Alexander Bukhvostov (Head of the Labour Party) and Sergei Kalyakin (Head of the Party of Communists). Vinchuk Vyachorka (Head of the Belarusian People's Front) was arrested on 26 April. Milinkevich, Bukhvostov and Vyachorka were sentenced to 15 days and Kalyakin to 14 days for "participating in an unauthorised rally". They had taken part in a demonstration on 26 April to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

On 10 April 2006, the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) Conclusions announced the imposition of a travel ban on 31 individuals, including Lukashenko, responsible for electoral fraud and the subsequent crackdown on civil society. On 18 May EU Foreign Ministers agreed to impose further restrictive measures in the form of asset freezes on the same 31 individuals. Four further individuals involved in the prosecution of Kozulin and other opposition activists were added to both lists on 23 October 2006.

In November 2006, the EU Commission's launched a European Neighbourhood Policy Shadow Action Plan which presents a strong advertisement to the Belarusian people of the benefits to be gained from the closer relationship with the EU which would follow a move towards democracy.

Local elections were held in Belarus on 14 January 2007. They cannot be seen to have been free and fair. The opposition was prevented from campaigning by registration problems, and an inability to print campaign materials or hold meetings with their constituents. Turnout for the local elections was high with 79% casting their vote. There were no international observers to monitor the elections. However, unofficial observation by the Belarus Helsinki Committee reported irregularities and intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters, lack of media equality and problems with voter lists and counting. The October 2006 amendments to the Electoral Code also created problems for the opposition. On 15 January 2007, the EU issued a statement declaring that the elections did not meet democratic standards and the "rights to freedom of opinion, of association and of assembly, as well as the rights of the opposition, were seriously impaired".

Longer Historical Perspective

The name Belarus was adopted in 1991 when the country became independent. Previously it had been known by the russified name Belorussia (White Russia). The history of the state goes back to the 9th century principality of Polotsk. During the 13th-14th centuries, all Belarusian lands, along with most of Ukraine and part of Russia, were embraced by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. (The name 'Lithuania', or 'Litva' in Belarusian, at different times was applied to parts of what is today Belarus and the Belarusians themselves, as well as present-day Lithuania. This gave rise to the view, popular among nationally minded Belarusians that the Grand Duchy was a form of Belarusian state or a multi-ethnic state where the Belarusians constituted the core.) In the 16th - 18th centuries the Grand Duchy of Lithuania formed a distinct part of the Polish Commonwealth.

The 15th-17th centuries were marked by significant political, economic and cultural achievements. Belarusians take particular pride in Francysk Skaryna's printed Bible (1517) and the uniquely developed legal code of the 16th century, the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (both in old Belarusian).

In the late 18th century, most of the Grand Duchy became part of the Russian Empire. A brief attempt at independence failed in 1918, and the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was established in August 1920. In 1922 it was one of four republics that signed the treaty establishing the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Riga (1921), which ended the Russo-Polish War, left Western Belarus under Polish rule until it was retaken by the USSR in 1939 after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Belarus was occupied and devastated by the Germans in World War II, losing between a quarter and a third of its population. The post-war reconstruction converted Belarus into an industrially, scientifically and militarily advanced Soviet Republic enjoying one of the highest living standards within the USSR.

BBC News Country Timeline: Belarus